Gibellina: The Earthquake

The documentary GIBELLINA - IL TERREMOTO is about the reconstruction of the Sicilian city Gibellina, which was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1968. A project that has come to be regarded as an urban development fiasco. A massive earthquake destroyed the Sicilian mountain village Gibellina 39 years ago. Hundreds of people died. The survivors eked out a life in meager barracks for 15 years. Many left the country. The city was rebuilt 18 kilometers away as a lifeless bedroom community with modern, shoddy architecture and an over-abundance of modern art: an oversized, open-air museum at the border of a failed vision with increasing social and economic problems. Director Joerg Burger's narrative style and his insistent, impish gaze open up a number of surprising viewpoints: GIBELLINA - IL TERREMOTO clearly shows that what was intended to be success story, that of a city of art, has over the years resulted in a fiasco of urban planning.